


Quaking

by Shi_Toyu



Series: Stark Week 2017 [11]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes is not okay, Can be read as gen, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Heavy Angst, Implied Everyone is Poly Because Avengers, Implied Relationships, M/M, Major Character Injury, Medical Procedures, Medical Trauma, Multi, Protective Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Feels, Tony Stark Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-14 02:00:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11773140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shi_Toyu/pseuds/Shi_Toyu
Summary: Tony's been hurt. Now his team has to face the possibility that they might lose him.





	Quaking

Bucky clenched his fists together tightly in a futile attempt to stop the trembling. He was shivering all over, shaking from exhaustion and pain and trying to hold the nightmares at bay. He squeezed his eyes shut, dislodging some of the moisture that’d been clinging to his eyelashes to track down his cheeks. They weren’t tears. He refused to think of them that way. Tears meant grief and he wasn’t grieving. He _wouldn’t_ grieve.

There was still hope.

“You should head back to the rooms,” Steve spoke quietly, voice so much gentler than it had been just hours before as he barked commands in the field. “Get some rest. Get some _sleep_. I’ll stay with him while you’re gone. If anything happens, you’ll be the first to know.”

Bucky shook his head. His hair was matted with blood on one side, though it had dried out by now. It clung to the side of his head like a burr and would be hell to clean out when he finally got around to it.

“I’m not leaving,” he grunted out, having to force himself to even utter those few words.

The Winter Soldier lingered at the edge of his consciousness, pressing in on him. It was so close. Right _there_.

“You’re hurting yourself by staying here,” Steve pleaded, as if he hadn’t already tried that tactic. “Please, Bucky…”

Bucky turned on him with a snarl, eyes snapping back open to glare. Anger boiled inside of him at the thought of being forced away.

“I will _not leave him_ ,” he growled.

Steve’s eyes darted away, toward the floor-to-ceiling tank in which Tony was suspended. He floated in the liquid, wires running in and out of his injured body. Bubbles floated sluggishly out of his mouth. He wasn’t breathing though. He _wasn’t breathing._ The bubbles were just trapped air escaping. A massive portion of his torso was missing, torn flesh drifting away from the body and waving gently in the current of the liquid inside the tank. Tony’s expression, at least, was peaceful. He looked almost as if he were asleep.

“You’re not the only one terrified by this,” Steve finally spoke again. “We’re _all_ terrified. I know what it’s like for you to be in here. This lab is sleek and modern, but seeing _Tony_ in a _chamber_ full of _fluid_ … Just like HYDRA did to yo-“

“Shut up!” Bucky roared, shooting to his feet and just barely holding himself back from striking Steve across the face. “Don’t you dare bring that up right now! You have no idea!”

But Steve had never met a fight he didn’t want to jump into with both fists swinging.

“What? You think you’re the only one who looks at him right now and sees something awful? You think I don’t look at him and think about him _drowning_ in the freezing cold waters of the Arctic? And there isn’t a damn thing I can do to help him! I’m _useless,_ ” he choked on the words, but pushed through them anyway. “All I can hope for is that they’ll be able to save him… but I _can_ help you.”

Bucky’s anger crumpled and he was quick to follow it, staggering forward to slump into Steve’s chest. The two super soldiers clung to each other desperately.

“I just want him to be okay,” Bucky gasped out against Steve’s neck. “I can’t lose him.”

“I know,” Steve comforted, though his voice was still rough with emotion. “None of us can.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last angst of Stark Week, I promise! You've made it through the worst of it! And you still have three more fics to go ;)


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